


Strange Aeons

by Hnybnny



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Additional Characters Added as They Appear, Ambiguous Protagonist - Freeform, Eldritch, Gen, Lovecraftian, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:39:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hnybnny/pseuds/Hnybnny
Summary: The last Master of Chaldea isn’t human.Not that they know that, of course.(note: chapters are not in chronological order)





	1. Check-Up

Doctor Romani Archaman first noticed it during the Master’s first routine check-up after their arrival at Chaldea- but what  _ it  _ was, he wasn’t quite sure. The data the medical machinery spat out seemed normal enough at first, perhaps a bit deviated from the mean but still, nothing to be concerned about. Another glance at the numbers startled the man, as he noticed that the Master’s body temperature was registering dangerously,  _ impossibly  _ low. He put the back of his hand against their forehead as they glanced up at him curiously. Warm. The equipment might just have been due for a re-calibration. Technology could be finicky, and that was especially true while being so close to one of Earth’s magnetic poles. He ran another set of tests, just to be sure, and the results came back fine. Perfectly normal. Average, and nothing more.

As the doctor peered through his ophthalmoscope at their eyes, he made a silent note of their unusual color- a gentle, yet prominent yellow hue. Not hazel or amber, but true  _ gold _ . A strange sort of calmness seemed to settle over him as he checked the retina and ocular structures for abnormalities, yet it was gone as soon as he pulled away. He shrugged the feeling away much like he did before- he must be sleepy. He hadn’t slept since… well, since Lev’s betrayal. He couldn’t remember how long ago that was… hours? Days? He wasn’t sure. The Master suddenly smiled at him. He smiled back. 

Everything would be fine, he was sure. It might take a while, but things would eventually get back to the way they were. Back to normal. 

The Master kept their smile up. It was soft. Reassuring. It was slightly surprising to Roman, as he thought they’d still be somewhat of a mess after the catastrophe that occurred, with them at the center. Being forced headlong into something they were by no means prepared for, let alone trained for. Perhaps they were more capable than anyone first thought... Or maybe they were shell-shocked. Hmm. He’d run a more thorough mental exam later, just to be sure. He wasn’t a therapist by any means, but he was all Chaldea had at the moment. 

As Roman leaned away to replace the instrument, the Master's dark pupils suddenly dilated, yet returned to the way they were as soon as the man turned to face them once more. They were still smiling as they then stood and moved to leave, the examination over, Roman deeming them to be in perfect health. As he heard the pneumatic door swoosh shut behind them, he glanced at their chart once more.

 

… Wasn’t he tired just a moment ago?

  
  



	2. Solomon

The last Master of Chaldea screamed.

It was a cry of pure rage and grief, tearing itself from their throat with a fury wild enough to leave them hoarse. It was a combination of all the pain and fear and anger and loss that they had experienced because of Solomon, because of _Goetia_ , bottled up for months. At the apparent end of their long road, with their two closest friends dead, they had seemingly reached their breaking point. The bottle of emotions inside them had become a molotov cocktail- and the fuse was finally lit.

The last Command Spell on their hand faded as they burned it, serving as kindling to the raging blaze inside them. The power flowed through their veins, surging like lightning through their overclocked magical circuits. It hurt. It _burned_. But the Master did not notice- they were far too gone for such small things to stand in their way.

They took up their late friend’s massive shield, standing steadfast still even as its original wielder had been violently wiped from existence. Its handles were still hot to the touch, yet the master did not seem to notice this either. They hefted the heavy bulwark as if it weighed little more to them than a sheet of plywood.

Their veins pulsed with each resounding, deafening thump-a-thump of their racing heart, their blood rushing barely visible just beneath the fair skin. It echoed in their ears like the quickening drums of an approaching army, drowning out the sounds of the collapsing world around them.

The Master screamed again, and the earth trembled and shuddered in response. But this time, it was not a scream. It was a _roar_.

 

At humanity’s end, as the last remaining magus charged one final time with holy shield in hand, the King of Humans stared deep into those blazing eyes of golden hellfire- and understood with a sharp pang that _they were not human_.

Something strange tightened deep within his mortal chest.

He would realize, in his dying moments, that it had been _fear_.


	3. After Solomon

Later, Leonardo da Vinci would stare unblinking at the data rolling across the bright holo-screen in front of her, her brow furrowed in deep thought. The readings taken during that final fight between the King of Humans and the Last Master of Chaldea were more than abnormal- they were impossible. 

They were impossible not in the sense that only they shouldn’t be occurring with such a person as the Master; it was that, adhering by even the loosest binding of the laws that governed magic and reality, what she was looking at was utterly and universally impossible by any stretch of the imagination. 

She hesitated a moment, pausing, having moved as if to copy the deeply intriguing yet worrying data to her records. She slowly glanced up to see that the rest of the staff, those that were awake and present, had their attention elsewhere, and she looked back down. Her hand moved elsewhere from where it was hovering, and with a quick few taps she deleted the readings and overloaded them with the facade of corrupted information, easily purging all of Chaldea’s data from those impossible moments and all the potential knowledge- as heavy as it was- that came with it.

Da Vinci slowly exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. 

She had a lot to think about- thoughts for her, and now with certainty, her  _ alone _ .


	4. Mid-Year

“So!” 

The Master slowly glanced up from their bowl of cereal, meeting the inquisitive eyes of their best friend- a sharp contrast to their own tired ones.

“So…?” They echoed through a mouthful of value-brand Froot Loops, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Mash Kyrelight cupped her chin in the palms of her hands, elbows rested on the sleek surface of one of the numerous tables in Chaldea’s small cafeteria. 

She leaned forward in her squeaky metal chair as they went back to eating. “Tell me about you, Senpai!” 

Spoon poised halfway between bowl and open mouth, the Master froze. The look on her friend's face must have surprised her, because Mash hurriedly backpedaled. “I mean, I was just thinking, last night in the common room, when some of the Servants were talking about their families when they were alive… I don’t really know anything about you, Senpai!” The Master tiredly mumbled something about how that wasn’t a bad thing, to which Mash only frowned. “It’s not really fair though, isn’t it? You know all about me- though there really isn’t much to know, considering my, uh, upbringing; but we’ve been friends for nearly six months and I barely know anything about you before you came to Chaldea!”

“You could take a peek at the records, you know.” The Master snorted in the echo of a laugh.

“But that’s not the same! Besides, I don’t really wanna invade your privacy like that.” Mash shifted somewhat uncomfortably in her seat. Suddenly a thought seemed to occur to her, and her bright eyes widened. “I mean, if you really don’t want to talk about it though, you don’t have to! If it’s too hard to talk about, or…” She then trailed off, looking awkwardly at the tabletop.

The Master sighed, and waved away her concerns with their free hand. “No, no, it’s fine. I’m just not really that interesting, but if you wanna know, shoot.” They put down their spoon and smiled. “Ask away.”

Mash instantly perked up- adorably so, the Master thought to themselves. “Okay, so…” She said, then hmm’d and paused for a moment. “Let’s start with your family! What were your parents like? Did you have any siblings? Any pets-” 

The Master cut her off with a laugh. “One at a time, one at a time!” 

“Eep- Sorry! Just got a little excited.” She said sheepishly. “So, how about your parents?”

“Don’t know them.” They shrugged their shoulders nonchalantly.

“Wh… what?” They weren’t like her- were they? A sort of designer baby? What did they mean?

“I mean, I had parents, yeah- probably still do. I just don’t know who or where they are.” They idly copied Mash’s posture, resting their chin in their hands. “Apparently I was abandoned as a little kid outside a hospital in New England. Anyways... Whoever dropped me off apparently managed to dodge the security cameras and not be spotted by any witnesses. I wasn’t old enough to remember anything about where I came from, but still not young enough to be as appealing to adopting parents as, say, a baby. So... I got stuck in a foster home.” They took a deep breath, closed their eyes, and continued. “America doesn’t really have orphanages, y’know? Which, I guess, is good. But I got shuffled around a lot, from home to home. Some were okay, some were… less than okay. That’s what happens when you get a lot of people who only foster for the money, I guess.” Their laugh was hollow. Mirthless. “But I’m getting off topic. Honestly, most of it is foggy. Really foggy. It all just kind of blended together, strangely enough.” They shrugged again, opening an eye and catching sight of Mash’s concerned gaze. They quickly shot her a reassuring smile. "Probably just due to some psychological stuff."

“I guess that means you don’t have any siblings?” 

The Master shook their head. “Not that I know of.” They suddenly frowned. "But... sometimes I get the strangest feeling that... maybe I do? I honestly don't know.

Mash opened her mouth to ask another question, but was interrupted by the blaring loudspeaker and Da Vinci’s voice broadcasted across it.  _ “Attention, all active Chaldean staff! Please report to the Control Room immediately!” _ The speaker buzzed with static, and was quiet once more. There was never truly time for a break in Chaldea with the threat of humanity’s end looming low overhead.

The Master exhaled, looked forlornly at their bowl of soggy half-eaten cereal, then back up at their friend. “Do you think Roman will be annoyed if I finish this during the meeting?”


	5. Seaside

I have always loved the ocean.

Eyes awash with every hue of blue as the cool breeze seeps into my marrow, listening close to the deafening crashing of the waves against the shore as gulls cry out somewhere overhead. The smell of salt breathed in, filling my lungs. The smudged grey line of the horizon so beautiful yet so far away, beckoning me ever closer to attempt to reach out and grab it- as if I only could. It drew me in, and I could never find it within myself to try and resist.

One of the few memories I would admit to having as a child was standing there, on some beach during the pitch black night. I do not know what I was doing there- I don’t remember how long ago it was, either, or where I was. I was small. I was alone.

The sand was hard and speckled with gravel and small pebbles of rock, broken in violence by the waves yet softened to a smoothness by the same persistent, gentle water that lay further beneath. The sky, oddly enough, was as dark as the sea- utterly devoid of the glittering stars that should have filled them with light. It must have been the clouds blocking them out, or perhaps light pollution. The moon was but a small sliver, its own luminescence barely reaching the lonely shoreline.

I can still feel the lapping of the chilling waves against my toes, my ankles, my calves, my knees as I trod slowly further and further into the water. The cold did not hurt me- I suppose being raised in the north is the cause- but instead I felt only comfort. I waded out to the edge, the precipice where the shore dropped off, abrupt and unforgiving, into the deepest darkest blue.

I remember standing there for a long time at that cliff-edge, until the sky began to pale. The darkness turned to orange, sunrise soon at hand. At the moment the light first began to break the horizon, I saw the most beautiful phenomenon. It was only years later I learned what it was.

For a few brief, fleeting seconds, the expected yellow of the sun flashed a most brilliant green. The emerald aura was almost blinding, and it lit up the inky blackness around me like daylight itself. I glanced down into the water, past the edge where my toes gripped deep into the sand.

Illuminated only by the unnatural green glow of the rising sun, I felt like I could see down for miles. In that moment, as I gazed deep into the abyss… I swore I could see two crimson orbs looking back at me. Our eyes locked. I felt… _something_.

 

But then, the phenomenon was over as soon as it had begun, and my sight was obscured once more. I swam back to shore as the sun rose and day broke. I do not remember anything else.

… I must have been dreaming.

 

I have always dreamed of the ocean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kind comments- it makes my heart swell ;u;  
> Expect the next chapter or two to be from the first-person perspective... switchin' it up a bit.


	6. Council

In an unknown realm, far outside of any existence and knowledge, a small group of beings were gathered atop a large marble platform, flanked by impossibly tall pillars. Far around them a floating city of white and gold seemed to stretch into the horizon, yet here, in this open-aired temple, it was quiet. Solitary, isolated, and revered. They surrounded a towering creature of glistening green-brown scales, vaguely shaped like a man but with the inhuman face of an octopus, prodigious claws stretching from the digits of its four limbs, and narrow wings folded tightly against its body. Its face, from the middle downwards, was a mass of writhing tendrils and its two eyes were closed shut as if in slumber. It did not speak, nor display any movement other than the idly moving tentacles where its mouth should have been.

“Have you heard Ulthar’s report?” A tall woman, mostly human in appearance except for the wild feline head atop her shoulders, finally spoke up. Her voice was a low hiss, yet regal in tone as she addressed the others.

“Affirmative,” a tall, hooded creature murmured, “but I cannot say I wholly believe it.” Green flames danced around it mesmerizingly, yet carried no heat nor light- its features remained cloaked in shadow. “Ulthar is but one watchman- even ones such as us may be fallible at times.”

“And as for your brother? What does he think?” 

The cloaked one shook its head. “I do not know the opinion of the Incandescent One. He is preoccupied with other matters.”

“Still thinks himself above these meetings, I see,” she sighed.

The swirling green flames brightened and flared for a moment, and then dimmed, as the cloaked one chose note to answer.

As they curtly conversed, a final figure strode across the ornate cathedral floor to the group, finishing the rough semi-circle formed around the foremost creature as he took his place. 

“I must apologize for my delay,” he said breezily, not portraying any actual remorse for holding up the proceedings.

The man was youthful in appearance, with a beautiful bearded face, curved smiling lips, and a strong brow all framed by dense brown wavy locks crowned by a circlet of poppy flowers. His eyes were striking, sunken yet wide, and bright in the sense that his gaze seemed to be physically luminous. He seemed to be almost entirely human except, where his ears would be on each side of his head, instead jutted out a small pair of black bird’s wings. He was clad only in a large cloak of the deepest bracken blue that constantly shimmered with otherworldly visions of pale white moths and unblinking red eyes.

“Although no-one asked for my opinion…” The man started again, “I think perhaps the old boy is getting old… and senile. You know how it is, so long spent alone on a prison planet, you may start to see things that aren’t there-”

_ Ulthar is not mistaken.  _

The man visibly startled as the foremost presiding being suddenly broke its silence and spoke, cutting him off. Though, perhaps ‘spoke’ was the wrong descriptor, for its unseen mouth made no movement and those gathered heard no audible sound. Instead, its words was heard inside the very mind, projected to each consciousness as if in a dream. It was not much different in feeling than a lingering thought, except for manifesting in a soft silvery voice not one's own. A strange and, franky, awfully intrusive method of communication, but a common one amongst such beings, considering the majority did, in fact, not have vocal cords.

_ They are stirring. They are whispering. Their forms remain in their eternal prisons, yet their consciousnesses have found the most fragile of holds in the threads of the planet’s ley lines as they pierce the roots. Insofar as the planet has hindered their efforts, but... you must understand that even a soul as strong as its own may waver in the face of ultimate chaos.  _

“You could not possibly mean-”

_ The deepest of darkness encroaches upon us all.  _

They collectively knew what their leader was referring to, yet the name always went unspoken. None dared to utter it lest the name draw its attention. A shudder involuntarily ran through those convened.

_ I am responsible for my… kin. My family. Even now, my brother’s whispers reach further into the minds of chosen men. I did what I could to protect existence from their endless destruction, yet it has not been enough. Mere fleeting glimpses of hope in the face of unstopping indifference, for how easily now is peace trampled by violence.  _

“So we should eliminate those under his influence, yes?” The cat-headed woman spoke up.

_ No. Not now. The human race… I must… help them.  _ The being hmm’d gently in thought.  _ They deserve the chance to live, to prosper… but they do not stand even a shred of that chance alone. _

“If they cannot even survive without your aid, perhaps they do not deserve it. If I may speak plainly, my Lord, I do believe it is nonsensical for you to care so much about these insignificant beings as you seem to,” the hooded one scoffed. “The priority of protection is existence itself, and the universe- not merely the planet’s population of primitive primates.”

_ I cannot blame you, as you do not see as I do. _ The being’s mouth-tendrils shifted idly.  _ These ‘primates’ potentially hold the key to restraining our malicious kin forever- perhaps even defeating them. Their world’s ‘magic’, as they call it, is extremely potent. What I can be certain of, however, is how this planet should not be allowed to be consumed as they have consumed so many others. There will be a moment, sometime in the far future, where this key will become obtainable to us. _

_ Yet… _ A hint of rare uncertainty laced its soothing voice.  _ Something still stands between that moment and now- a sudden shift, I noticed, in the sands of time. An unnatural alteration leading to the demise of humanity and the erasure of its very history leading back almost to the dawn of their existence.  _

“Is it…?” The man spoke up after a moment’s pause, leaving his sentence unfinished as they all understood. Was it _the_ darkness?

_ No,  _ the being gently shook its massive head.  _ Of that I am sure- the cause of this is foreign, unfamiliar. There seems to be a purpose, rather than the wanton destruction of our kind. No matter what the purpose may be, however, the consequences of allowing this shift to continue unfettered are…  _ Now it was the being’s turn to trail off, becoming silent for a painstaking few minutes. This was extremely worrying to those gathered, although they did not voice their concerns aloud.   __

_ The Mist has obscured too much of my vision, for I cannot see past humanity’s extinction point. Yet I know where I must begin, and what must be done. There is a place deep within the most inhospitable wasteland of their planet where all the lines of magic and magnetism converge as one. Yet as I have seen, there the most capable among their species will converge as well in order to ensure their preservation over the coming star-revolutions. That is where I am called- and it is there that I will go. _

It slowly opened its eyes for the first time in eons, and turned its gaze towards the starless heavens with unblinking orbs of brilliant gold.

_ Finis Chaldea. _


End file.
